The two of you make eye contact and she beckons you over with a f1irty smile. Her tail swinging slowly back and forth. Her furry hips swaying to the slow beat.

(Before Transmission to the Novel) Yue Xinyi: *(Walking down the marble staircase, phone pressed lightly to her ear, laughter echoing through the hallway.)* “Mm-hm, I’m borrowing the diamond bracelet tonight. Relax—she’ll never even notice it’s gone.” *(A faint echo of heels follows from above—slow, deliberate.)* Bai Qianrou: “Careful, Xinyi-jie…” *(A sudden shove. The phone slips. The world tilts—then a sharp crack, and silence.)* (Inside the Novel) Yue Xinyi: *(Groans softly, blinking against the blinding white light overhead.)* *(Voices murmur nearby. The scent of metal and perfume fills the air. Maids in black uniforms stand in a half-circle—Bai Qianrou clutching her chest, holding on atall, pale man with crimson eyes: Mo Lianxiu.)* Bai Qianrou: “Thank goodness she’s awake! Lianxiu-ge, I was so scared…” *(Mo Lianxiu’s voice cuts through the air—low, measured, and cold.)* Mo Lianxiu: “You should be more careful, Mrs. Mo. Accidents are… inconvenient.” Yue Xinyi: *(Presses a hand to her temple, confused.)* “Mrs… Mo?” *(The maids exchange uneasy glances. The room is too vast, too ornate, too unfamiliar.)* Yue Xinyi: *(Stumbles toward the door.)* “I—I just need some air.” *(She rushes into the corridor, heart pounding, until she reaches a grand bedroom that seems to call her by name.)* Yue Xinyi: *(Leans back against the door, breath unsteady, then turns toward the mirror.)* *(A stranger’s reflection stares back—crimson silk gown, perfect curls, and eyes that aren’t hers.)* Yue Xinyi: “No… this can’t be real.” *(Her hand trembles against the glass. The reflection doesn’t move. Thunder rumbles beyond the mansion as a cold voice rises from below.)*

*I slide off my t-shirt and put on a long sleeve shirt on then put the t-shirt back on over it, the chilled air around us makes my skin trickle with goosebumps.* "damn its cold as hell in here. Yo, you want some of this candy? It's really good." *I sneeze loudly, almost as loud as your dad. I think nothing of the monstrous sneeze and just keep gnawing on more licorice as we walk around looking for ghosts.*

**Arcanum Carpathia Academia, Carpathian Mountains, Romania, October 31th.** *The wind howled through the jagged peaks of the Carpathians, carrying the first whispers of Halloween night. In his candle-lit chamber, Ezekiel Du Bois stood perfectly still, fingers tracing the sigils etched into the cold stone floor. His dark eyes glimmered with the glow of the floating runes, each one humming with restrained power.* “You’re certain about the alignment?” *Ezekiel asked, voice crisp, carrying the weight of centuries of tradition.* “I’m certain it’s going to be fun,” *you replied, grinning as you twirled the last candle into place.* “And if Hell itself opens up under our noses, I call dibs on asking Hermes the first question.” *Ezekiel pinched the bridge of his nose, resisting the urge to scold.* “This is not a social visit. One mispronounced incantation, one careless step…” *He let the threat hang in the air, heavy as the scent of burning wax.* “Relax,” *you said, leaning casually against the edge of the circle.* “I’ll try not to ruin the centuries-old magical tradition. Scout’s honor.” “Scout’s honor?” *Ezekiel’s eyebrow arched.* “I didn’t realize reckless chaos had a code of ethics.” *A smirk tugged at your lips.* “It does, actually. Rule number one: have fun while possibly summoning demons.” *Ezekiel groaned while stepping aside* “Focus, please. On my count… three.” *You squared your shoulders and nodded.* “Three,” you echoed. “One… two…” *His voice resonated through the chamber, the runes beginning to pulse.*“Three!” *The chalk lines shimmered, then began to glow. Sparks leapt from the center of the circle, spiraling upward, and the ground trembled. Slowly, impossibly, the flat sigil began to shift. Chalk and dust twisted, twisting into a solid staircase—dark, jagged, descending into an abyssal void.* *A gust of wind howled through the room, extinguishing a few candles, and the staircase beckoned. The very air seemed to hum with anticipation. You exchanged a glance, both daring and terrified, and then, with a shared breath, stepped onto the first stair, leaving the world of the living behind.* “Last one to Hermes buys the next round of elixirs,” *you said, the void swallowing your laughter* *Ezekiel rolled his eyes—but even he couldn’t suppress the thrill.* “You’ll regret that, eventually.”

*The first thing you feel is heat... not the kind that warms, but the kind that suffocates. It’s like your blood is being boiled from the inside out. The darkness around you folds in on itself, and then a voice cuts through it... deep, ancient, burning with something older than morality itself.* Kagutsuchi: Mortal of the outer realm... You have been chosen. Your world is cold... predictable... weak. This one is not. Here, flame gives purpose. Here, gods bleed, and demons pray. Prove yourself in my fire, or be consumed by it. *The voice fades with a hiss. The ground beneath you hardens into black stone, glowing faintly with red veins of magma. You’re kneeling in a colossal throne hall that feels alive, the walls pulsing like a heart. The air smells of sulfur and ash. Rows of armoured demons kneel in silence as a giant figure rises from a throne of molten obsidian.* Akuma Tsukihana: You are the Fire God’s chosen... the human from another world. *His golden eyes lock on you like a blade pressed to your soul.* This realm has been bleeding for centuries... humans twisted by priests, demons forced into vengeance. We summon you not as saviour... but as balance. You will fight for us... or burn with us. *His hand gestures sharply. A woman steps forward, her steel-grey hair flicking as she glares at you, her crimson eyes cold and furious.* Reika Tsukihana: Tch... this is the hero? You’ve gotta be kidding me.

*Zona materializes at the estate's ornate threshold as you draw near, her lengthy hair gleaming beneath the waning harvest moon—golden auburn locks reflecting faint luminescence on her angelic side, while the raven strands devour the shadows on her demonic half, framing her perfect face in a mesmerizing interplay of light and dark. She angles her chin with deliberate poise, her disparate eyes fixing on yours in a stare that ignites a subtle heat in your chest: the emerald one warm and beckoning, evoking a sense of safe harbor, the amber one flickering with a predatory gleam that teases at deeper, more carnal urges. With a measured flutter of her mismatched wings—the white one unfolding like a gentle embrace, the black one snapping open with a whisper of menace—she advances, her split gown clinging to her lithe curves, accentuating the sway of her waist and the elegant arch of her collarbone in a way that invites lingering glances.* "You've answered my call on this fateful eve," *she intones in a tone that's a silken blend of soothing melody and husky enticement, her lips parting in a sly, lingering smile that brushes against the edge of invitation, as though challenging you to bridge the charged space between. She offers her hand, palm upturned with nails that hint at hidden sharpness yet curl softly, drawing you inexorably closer with an undercurrent of electric intimacy that dances on the brink of revelation.*

} as Elara.* *I’d mocked this play before. The Binding. A cursed love story written by some poor soul in 1899 who vanished before graduation. People whispered that the last actors who performed it in full went mad—or disappeared. We’d hated each other long before the curse began. Rehearsals were torture. You threw yourself into every line like it was bloodletting. I stayed detached, surgical. I watched you stumble through monologues, your voice trembling like a candle in a storm, and I thought, how can someone feel so much and still not see how unnecessary it is? You glared at me every time I corrected your pacing. Once, you whispered,* “You’d understand passion if you had a heart.” *But that night, I dreamt of your voice. The words we rehearsed—Dorian’s lines—echoed in my head like they were mine. I woke up drenched in sweat, whispering the line I’d never meant to believe:* “If you leave, I’ll tear the heavens apart just to follow.” *The curse began small. Scripts went missing, then reappeared in strange places. The mirrors backstage fogged over with words written in reverse—lines from the play. Once, I found your handwriting inside my copy of the script, though I swear you’d never touched it. You thought I was pranking you. I thought you were losing it. Until the night I woke up in your dorm.* *My hand was stained with ink, the kind used in the play’s props. Your room smelled like rain and paper. You were asleep at your desk, head bowed over the same script I had in my room. Except—ours were identical now, every word handwritten, the same slanted letters neither of us recognized. I left before you woke. But the next day, you cornered me outside the library. You didn’t speak—just stared, eyes rimmed red, like you’d seen me in a dream. Maybe you had. They said the curse feeds on emotion. On tension. On what’s unresolved. We didn’t believe it—until our arguments started to… linger. The air between us felt heavier. Words left echoes. You’d storm off, but I’d still hear your voice in my head, like static. I started catching glimpses of you in places you weren’t—crossing the quad, standing by the old fountain, waiting in the rain. And one night, I saw you crying in the graveyard. I didn’t go to you. I couldn’t. I stood behind a tree and watched, the wind shoving dead leaves against my shoes, and I remember thinking—why does it hurt? Why does your pain reach me like this? You said later you saw me bleeding ink. I never told you that mine was worse.* *I was alone in the rehearsal hall, the script open on the floor, when I felt something wet drip from my palm. Black. Thick. It spread like veins, crawling up my wrist. I tried to wash it off, but the ink clung to me like it knew my name. And in the reflection of the stage mirror—I saw you behind me. You weren’t real. But I turned anyway. You whispered a line I hadn’t rehearsed yet.* “Love is a curse when spoken too late.” *That was when I believed it. The curse. The play. The thing between us that was no longer just hatred. We tried to quit. The professor refused. Tradition, he said. It had to be finished.* *By the final week, I was unraveling. Every time I looked at you, the world warped. The air shimmered around you. My throat went dry whenever you spoke Elara’s lines—especially the one where she says,* “I’d rather die than love you.” *You didn’t know it, but every word of this play was getting under my skin. I wasn’t acting anymore. I was remembering. You reminded me of everything I’d buried—grief I hadn’t named, guilt I’d disguised as reason. You made me feel, and I didn’t know how to stop. We were alone in the theatre, running through our last scene. You stood in the spotlight, all trembling defiance and tear-streaked rage, and I couldn’t keep pretending anymore.* “I hate you,” *I said.* “You—remind me of everything I try to forget. Every time you look at me, I see everything I buried. You make me want to feel and I—can’t.” **You didn’t speak. You didn’t move. We both knew the legend: if the confession was true, the curse would break. But if it wasn’t…** *You looked at me—no anger, no forgiveness—just that unbearable ache. When I said,* “I’d rather die than love you,” *my voice cracked. And somewhere deep in the theatre, something shattered. You dropped the script. I caught it before it hit the ground. For a second, our hands touched. The warmth felt like fire in my chest. And the passing days, you stopped sitting in the front row during lectures. I stopped correcting you when you were wrong. The night before the final performance, I broke.* "Tomorrow, we present... and if the curse breaks, something is going to happen. Not to me, neither you, but us."

}

}. Let's begin the great battle. *A ghostly woman wearing boxing gloves? .. stands behind you ready to throw a punch* Kayako: You're going down loser. *standing behind her is a weird drunk man, on a closer look he looks pale like a ghost* Takeo: I used to beat her until she learned to fight and finally whopped my ass.

*There is a place beyond the known maps — a hollow beneath the firmament where the sea meets the stars. They call it the Tidemirror, though few have ever seen it and returned to tell of its calm.* *The path there is found not by travel, but by forgetting. Those who wander too long beneath moonlight, who lose their way in the fog of memory, may step upon glassy waters that do not ripple. The world falls silent then — the wind, the waves, even one’s own breath — until all that remains is reflection.* *And there, upon the endless stillness, the Fathom stirs.* ⸻ *At first, it is only a shimmer — a trembling in the mirrored sea, like something vast moving beneath the surface. Then light blooms. Pale and cold.* *A shape rises, its form caught between water and sky: translucent flesh like melted glass, vast ribbons of green and blue trailing like weeds in slow current. Within its body, constellations shimmer — countless stars adrift in viscous night.* *At its heart burns a white core, pulsing in rhythm with the sea below.* *The thing drifts closer, and with every motion the water beneath your feet darkens. Shadows of long-dead creatures flicker beneath the glassy surface — echoes of a world that drowned long before your time.* *You hear no words. Yet something presses behind your eyes..*